Time for an Upgrade

I'm do for an upgrade and I currently have an Iphone 3GS. I'm leaning on changing to the S3 but I have never actually used an Android phone before. To be honest have only had two phones in my life a flip motorola razor and the 3GS lol. I have been reading the threads on here to better understand the phone and some of its problems. I have a few questions that I'm currently having trouble understanding with an Android device in general. Any help would be great cause not sure I want to stray away from Apple, but at the same time looking for change. I want to take advantage of the cool things an Android can do cause if I don't do that might as well stay Iphone since I wouldn't be doing the S3 justice.

1) What are Themes and how do you use them? What are the best apps to use for themes?
2) I have a mac book pro but don't have the new operating system, and have noticed on the threads people having problems with the phone connecting with their computer. Is this problem something only seen on the upgrade or does it go across all macs?
3) Can widgets be anything ex: A rolling scoreboard for sports scores. My most recent tweets are viewable on one of the screens?

Thank you for any answers to these questions and if you have any other comments that need you think I should know please say it all information is welcomed looking to make my decision in the next week or so.

I'm do for an upgrade and I currently have an Iphone 3GS. I'm leaning on changing to the S3 but I have never actually used an Android phone before. To be honest have only had two phones in my life a flip motorola razor and the 3GS lol. I have been reading the threads on here to better understand the phone and some of its problems. I have a few questions that I'm currently having trouble understanding with an Android device in general. Any help would be great cause not sure I want to stray away from Apple, but at the same time looking for change. I want to take advantage of the cool things an Android can do cause if I don't do that might as well stay Iphone since I wouldn't be doing the S3 justice.

1) What are Themes and how do you use them? What are the best apps to use for themes?
2) I have a mac book pro but don't have the new operating system, and have noticed on the threads people having problems with the phone connecting with their computer. Is this problem something only seen on the upgrade or does it go across all macs?
3) Can widgets be anything ex: A rolling scoreboard for sports scores. My most recent tweets are viewable on one of the screens?

Thank you for any answers to these questions and if you have any other comments that need you think I should know please say it all information is welcomed looking to make my decision in the next week or so.

The easiest way to use themes is to use a third party launcher like Nova, Apex, or GO. If you install any of those than you can simply download themes from the app store. If you don't know what I launcher is, than I'd like to introduce you to our friend Google

The reason people have issues with Macs is because they probably aren't installing Kies and the appropriate drivers beforehand. This isn't a problem with the device, and this issue could happen with any device. I've plugged my phone into my wife's Macbook with 0 issues but I follow directions

I'm sure there is a widget for sports scores. You'd just have to look around the app store for one you like. ScoreMobile seems pretty popular.

Any popular Twitter client will show new tweets in a widget. In fact I believe this is built into the stock Twitter app.

Sent From My Rooted/Modded SGSIII - If I've helped you please click 'Thanks'!

Thanks for the help, and I didn't well kind of did. My program in college made us use it so we paid for it through our tuition and when I graduated I had the option to purchase it so I did. I couldn't pass it up I spent so much money on it through tuition to not buy it out would be crazy. So you said that you don't really use themes so you just changed wallpapers and changed other things inside the phone?

The easiest way to use themes is to use a third party launcher like Nova, Apex, or GO. If you install any of those than you can simply download themes from the app store. If you don't know what I launcher is, than I'd like to introduce you to our friend Google

The reason people have issues with Macs is because they probably aren't installing Kies and the appropriate drivers beforehand. This isn't a problem with the device, and this issue could happen with any device. I've plugged my phone into my wife's Macbook with 0 issues but I follow directions

I'm sure there is a widget for sports scores. You'd just have to look around the app store for one you like. ScoreMobile seems pretty popular.

Any popular Twitter client will show new tweets in a widget. In fact I believe this is built into the stock Twitter app.

Sent From My Rooted/Modded SGSIII - If I've helped you please click 'Thanks'!

Thanks for the help I appreciate it. Want to make sure that I make the right choice going to have either phone for roughly 3 years don't want to screw it up. LOL.

i just switched from the 3gs to the S3 and im completely happy with my decision... not sure if you were familiar with jailbreaking on your iphone but the majority of things you could get from jailbreaking can be done right out of the box on this phone. ive only had it for a week so im still learning things myself.

The only thing i missed about the iphone was bitesms (from jailbreaking) and the way the phone handles predicting your text.. the s3 seemed to just add random words i wasnt trying to say.. but downloading Handcent SMS fixed my issue missing bitesms and SwiftKey 3 fixed the predictive text. Also both of those apps allow you to change the themes of the sms app and you keyboard system wide

I was a die hard iphone user for years and i cant even think about using an iphone again

Be sure to search within the forum for other posts about the iPhone - you'll get some perspective from other iOS users about things that they expected or found lacking in Android that us Android users can't relate to unless we were also previous iOS users. For example, one user mentioned that on his iPhone, incorrectly spelled words were underlined - I would never have thought of that when discussing 3rd party keyboard solutions to replace the stock Samsung keyboard.
Hope you find what you're looking for.

i just switched from the 3gs to the S3 and im completely happy with my decision... not sure if you were familiar with jailbreaking on your iphone but the majority of things you could get from jailbreaking can be done right out of the box on this phone. ive only had it for a week so im still learning things myself.

The only thing i missed about the iphone was bitesms (from jailbreaking) and the way the phone handles predicting your text.. the s3 seemed to just add random words i wasnt trying to say.. but downloading Handcent SMS fixed my issue missing bitesms and SwiftKey 3 fixed the predictive text. Also both of those apps allow you to change the themes of the sms app and you keyboard system wide

I was a die hard iphone user for years and i cant even think about using an iphone again

Thanks,

Appreciate the perspective now how do you find the battery life compared to the 3GS. Mine is almost 3 years old and I still can get a full day out of it pretty much with constantly being on Facebook and Twitter, and doing light internet usage. I know apps aren't quite as good as apple but have you found it to be a real down grade?

no i find it to be better actually.. ive used DroidWall to dissable any random apps from accessing the internet for reasons i dont want, so thats helped a bit it think.. and theres also a power saver feature which is supposed to really help.. but i havent had to use it. and the built in battery monitor tells you which apps use exactly what percent of your battery

at first your going to find that the battery drains pretty quick, but thats only going to be be because your using the thing constantly!

Compared to the battery of the 3GS the S3 has a MUCH better battery. It's more than enough unless you are a real heavy app user at least in the beginning.

Personally I had a 3GS and that thing BARELY lasted an entire day of casual use.

Really I love the battery on the 3GS I most have gotten a really good one. In its early days I could go almost 2 full days without charging and that was with medium use. Now if on it a lot charge it every night. If light use then a day and a half.

no i find it to be better actually.. ive used DroidWall to dissable any random apps from accessing the internet for reasons i dont want, so thats helped a bit it think.. and theres also a power saver feature which is supposed to really help.. but i havent had to use it. and the built in battery monitor tells you which apps use exactly what percent of your battery

at first your going to find that the battery drains pretty quick, but thats only going to be be because your using the thing constantly!

That's great news then. That was one of the concerns I had. Now would you call yourself a heavy user? Now with an app like "DroidWall" when you download it do you have to go to settings to activate or do they just start running on its own?

Thanks for the responses its good to have perspective from somebody who actually had the same phone as me and just switched.

I will toss in my 2 cents.
I am currently using a Galaxy S3 and an IPhone 4s (IOS6).

If you want a phone that is simple to operate with no customization (except if you jailbreak it). An good battery life stick with IOS
If you want a phone with an amazing screen (size) and want to customize it, widgets rock. Go with the S3 (battery is not better than Apple as far as I am concerned).

Out of both phones just as a phone I would only go with the Iphone (or little internet or video usage). But if you are very internet heavy go with the S3 (that darn screen gives a lot). Video's as well on the S3. I have 2 batteries for my S3 and use them both in a day. But, and this is important. I would not spend the time on the internet or watching video's on my IPhone like I do on the S3. The IPhone 5 does not come close to the S3 in screen size. An you will be using that darn thing in landscape mode a lot of the time. You don't have to for a lot of things with the S3.

An what can I say about widgets. Until you have experienced them you are truly missing something. They let you create your own little canvas (I think is a good way to put it).

An it is wrong to compare an old IPhone to an S3.

To be honest you cannot go wrong with either phone. Myself if I had to give up my IPhone or my S3 I would drop the Iphone (but that is just me).

I will toss in my 2 cents.
I am currently using a Galaxy S3 and an IPhone 4s (IOS6).

If you want a phone that is simple to operate with no customization (except if you jailbreak it). An good battery life stick with IOS
If you want a phone with an amazing screen (size) and want to customize it, widgets rock. Go with the S3 (battery is not better than Apple as far as I am concerned).

Out of both phones just as a phone I would only go with the Iphone (or little internet or video usage). But if you are very internet heavy go with the S3 (that darn screen gives a lot). Video's as well on the S3. I have 2 batteries for my S3 and use them both in a day. But, and this is important. I would not spend the time on the internet or watching video's on my IPhone like I do on the S3. The IPhone 5 does not come close to the S3 in screen size. An you will be using that darn thing in landscape mode a lot of the time. You don't have to for a lot of things with the S3.

An what can I say about widgets. Until you have experienced them you are truly missing something. They let you create your own little canvas (I think is a good way to put it).

An it is wrong to compare an old IPhone to an S3.

To be honest you cannot go wrong with either phone. Myself if I had to give up my IPhone or my S3 I would drop the Iphone (but that is just me).

Good luck

Great post thanks. I think the biggest concern for me is the unknown when it comes to Android. The familiarity with the Iphone is so strong, but at the same time it bores me now. Some of the things that I use a lot of on Iphone don't work as well on Android (Ex: Facebook, Twitter) you have to use different apps then the normal ones. Also video has to be edited with a different app unlike the Iphone where you can trim it right away after taking it. Those are the kind of things that are making a complete jump to Android tough.

id say its down to how geeky you are about your phone... if you've never jailbroke or considered jailbreaking the iphone then i doubt youl use the s3 to its full potential and may be better sticking with apple. if you want a nice screen for browsing, youtube etc then check out the s3 and the Htc One X. the one x seems better built and i think its "sense" user interface is less complex than samsungs "touchwiz"
(am i right Sense users?)

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

This has been my battery stats for the day.. I I've done some navigating, lots of Internet browsing texting and a couple calls even played some Nintendo 64

If you only use your phone for texting and talking then I guess stay with the iPhone.. If you like freedom to do anything then without a doubt make the switch. Samsung touch whiz makes the transition pretty easy

id say its down to how geeky you are about your phone... if you've never jailbroke or considered jailbreaking the iphone then i doubt youl use the s3 to its full potential and may be better sticking with apple. if you want a nice screen for browsing, youtube etc then check out the s3 and the Htc One X. the one x seems better built and i think its "sense" user interface is less complex than samsungs "touchwiz"
(am i right Sense users?)

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

IMO both the S3 and the Iphone are plenty good phones out of the box, but the S3 really shines with it's customizable options. I jailbroke my 3gs and was less than impressed.

Really I love the battery on the 3GS I most have gotten a really good one. In its early days I could go almost 2 full days without charging and that was with medium use. Now if on it a lot charge it every night. If light use then a day and a half.

You must have gotten a factory freak then lol. My entire family was on the 3GS and we were all dissapointed with terrible battery life.

Great post thanks. I think the biggest concern for me is the unknown when it comes to Android. The familiarity with the Iphone is so strong, but at the same time it bores me now. Some of the things that I use a lot of on Iphone don't work as well on Android (Ex: Facebook, Twitter) you have to use different apps then the normal ones. Also video has to be edited with a different app unlike the Iphone where you can trim it right away after taking it. Those are the kind of things that are making a complete jump to Android tough.

My biggest piece of advice is if you choose to try Android, DO NOT expect it to be like the iPhone. Plan on adjusting to a different keyboard, different messaging, different EVERYTHING. I know it sounds silly to have to say that, but I have found that a lot of people who get comfortable with one platform, say they want change so they switch. But they do so without fully understanding how new it will ALL be. Don't let this scare you, embrace it and enjoy the learning experience. It's not like Android is scary. People say it is, but in reality the phone will be great for you even if you use zero widgets and never customize anything. It will work great for you right out of the box, however the option for customization is there for you if you choose to do so.

I use ESPN ScoreCenter widget for my sports scores, and I would recommend Tweetcaster Pro for Twitter. The widget is awesome, and the interface is great. As for the Mac question, I do not know how to answer that because I own a PC and it connects without problems.

My biggest piece of advice is if you choose to try Android, DO NOT expect it to be like the iPhone. Plan on adjusting to a different keyboard, different messaging, different EVERYTHING. I know it sounds silly to have to say that, but I have found that a lot of people who get comfortable with one platform, say they want change so they switch. But they do so without fully understanding how new it will ALL be. Don't let this scare you, embrace it and enjoy the learning experience. It's not like Android is scary. People say it is, but in reality the phone will be great for you even if you use zero widgets and never customize anything. It will work great for you right out of the box, however the option for customization is there for you if you choose to do so.

I use ESPN ScoreCenter widget for my sports scores, and I would recommend Tweetcaster Pro for Twitter. The widget is awesome, and the interface is great. As for the Mac question, I do not know how to answer that because I own a PC and it connects without problems.

i couldnt agree more man. i see so many people on this forum complaining about a "fault" in the s3 bcoz it doesnt do a certain iphone thing "out of the box"
you have to do a bit more work with android to get the perfect device but you end up with a more perfect device imo

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess